Who says you have to give up classical musical stylings just to stay current with today’s music?

Postmodern Jukebox, an Internet sensation launched through the wilds of YouTube, wants you to have the best of both worlds. Scott Bradlee, its founder, has taken some of the greatest hits of today and styled them as Motown, swing, jazz, big band, and ‘50s do-wop.

“We take these modern pop songs everyone knows because you hear them on the radio, television and commercials—you hear them wherever you go,” said band member and singer Dani Armstrong. “We take them back to jazz, modern or swing. Hearing them down in an authentic genre is something special. We all know ‘Poker Face,’ then you hear it in this big band jazz version and it’s a really fun experience. They’re songs you already know, but transformed in a totally different way.”

The group is now coming to the Wharton Center in East Lansing at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 to put on a full concert of the kind of songs that made them a hit across generations.

Bradlee got his start in a New York basement in 2010 doing YouTube videos in this style. It took off and in 2013 his videos started going viral. He now has a channel with more than two million subscribers and he now tours the country with ten to 12 musicians, including five different singers.

Armstrong, who was raised in Michigan and now lives in Los Angeles, joined him as part of a tour in July of 2016. While she too had a history with viral videos and has sung with groups all around the world, she describes her discovery as one of those classic Hollywood stories.

“Although most of our vocalists made their PMJ debuts on video before touring with us,” said Bradlee. “I was so amazed at Dani’s talents as a live performer that I immediately sent her to perform at our shows in Wisconsin and Maine; predictably, she brought the house down.”

Armstrong knew who they were because she had seen them on Facebook and Internet. She’d become a listener and a fan of such covers of theirs as “Creep” and “All About the Bass.” A couple years later, she was singing in a lounge. She was booked for just a single song. But a Postmodern Jukebox manager was in the audience. He heard her sing and called the owner of the restaurant, who called the booking agent who called her agent and emailed her at 9:30 the next morning asking if she wanted to be part of the Postmodern Jukebox band.

“I’d been out here for 18 years doing the Hollywood thing and the one person who you want to hear you was there and loved you—it was a real Hollywood dream story,” said Armstrong.

Soon after that, she recorded The Police’s “Roxanne” in a ‘50s style, with orchestral backup.

“In our remake of ‘Roxanne,’ Dani’s voice covers an impressive several octaves of range at full power,” Bradlee said. “And, just to show that she still had even more powerful high notes left, I threw in a whole step key change for good measure.”

Armstrong says she sings mostly jazz and rock and roll renditions of modern favorites.

“They seem like totally different universes, but growing up in Detroit with Motown, Tina Turner and Janis Joplin, I really took a love for rock and my parents (who owned a music shop and met while performing in a band) played a lot of jazz. So jazz and rock are my wheelhouse.”

While anyone can suggest a song and a styling, Armstrong said that 98 percent of the compositions come from Bradlee.

“I’ve never found someone who is so capable of doing these arrangements as he does,” Armstrong said. “He’ll suggest a song and sit there and kind of think for a second. He doesn’t look up sheet music—then he creates these arrangements right there on the spot. It’s pretty amazing. He has this capability that I’ve never seen before. It’s pretty extraordinary.”

The Wharton Center concert will be a mix of group numbers and solos, all throwbacks to the eras of the ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s.

“You will be transported back in time, all with songs you know,” said Armstrong. “The song starts and it might take 10 or 12 seconds before you recognize what it is. It’s fun to watch audience’s faces a few seconds into the song as they register ‘oh my gosh, I love this song.’”

She also said each show is different as they constantly add new songs and the singers change in and out. Even if you’ve seen one of their previous shows, they now have new arrangements and new songs.

“The other thing that we do in our videos and our tours,” said Armstrong, “is that everything is live. There is nothing prerecorded. It’s really live, authentic, in the moment music you’re hearing. Scott Bradlee is adamant that everything is done right there in the moment. It brings an energy to the performance.”

With dancers joining the show, Armstrong said it is a real, live cabaret style show and that the energy is palpable in the room, whether they are playing to a small crowd or 10,000 people.

“Scott Bradlee is raising the bar,” Armstrong said. “He’s saying to musicians, you can do this. He finds the best talent in the world and gives people opportunities and chances. There are dozens and dozens of vocalists on YouTube channels that go on to really successful careers. He gives them their break.”

Armstrong encourages people to come check out shows that will be filled with songs they love as they’ve never heard them before.

“The party never stops with Postmodern Jukebox,” said Armstrong. “Come out and have fun. We encourage people to dress up in vintage styles. We’re all dressed up in vintage wear. They can sing and dance along.”